 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1981 film butcher Baker nightmare maker And this one is available on shutter when I'm doing this review. I do recommend this I will say that obviously there will be spoilers with this because it's an older film But if you want to stop this go watch the movie and then come back, which would be worth it. I recommend it It's it's a fun time. So this was directed by William Asher who also did films Such as the Patty Duke show actually not a film a show Be which he did a lot of the show be which which I watched a lot of be which when I was growing up a little bit Of the Dukes of hazard which I watched a lot of the Dukes of hazard when I was a kid and a bunch of beach party movies There was definitely a phase where the United States wanted beach party movies and he did those So very interesting to know So this film was written by Steve Breimer and Alan J. Gluckman Alan J. Gluckman had also done Ruskies and it nearly wasn't Christmas just to name a few films and also Boone Collins who had didn't who had written scripts for films abducted abducted to the reunion and the protector Haven't seen him Excuse me. I do need to shout out the fact that Susan Tyrell plays Aunt Cheryl in this film and she is Phenomenal whatever she was paid I guarantee it wasn't enough for this film her performance makes the film without her Performance in this film. It's nothing because obviously everything hinges on her ability to sell the crazy to sell the psycho to sell this person who's just spiraling out of control Gradually and you know part of that does go to the script writing obviously But if if the wrong person is aunt Cheryl the whole film falls apart so Susan Tyrell Phenomenal job. I love her in this role. She's mesmerizing as she needs to be with this role I love what she does in this film so great So some other things you may know her from a big top pee we Far from home crybaby powder and one I know from her the Christmas star Which is very depressing terrible terrible Christmas movie that my wife made me watch just saying Really the whole film does live off her performance This film was also titled on the verge of the nightmare and Night warning which I don't think are as good a names or as catchy honestly It also had a working title of mother's dead So the title itself butcher Baker nightmare maker obviously It's very catchy because of the rhyming to it But if you think about it actually does have significance because butcher obviously and Cheryl is a butcher She kills people with a knife nonetheless Baker. She obviously bakes and makes things for Billy Nightmare maker. She makes a series of nightmares with throughout Billy's life. So initially when I saw the film I was done with them like the title doesn't really mean that much and then I really thought about I'm like Well, wait a second. It actually does tie in so there you go. Just my thoughts So these this is interesting Daryl Hannah and Ali Sheedy both auditioned for the role of Julie Billy's love interest And Bill Paxton was actually considered for the role of Billy at one point Obviously, he ends up being Eddie in this film and it is great to see Bill Paxton because He's playing the character once again of Chet from Weird Science basically, which actually this was before Weird Science So this is pre-chet basically and actually you can watch it as Eddie being Chet and in all honesty and then just watch Weird Science So this made it on I don't know why but this made it onto the UK video nasties list I feel like they were throwing pretty much anything horror related onto that list at one point because here's the thing the kills in this are Not that graphic. They do cut away a decent amount of times, especially like with the meat mallet to the back of Julie's head Then there's not that much gore like the kills don't look that good and they're not that gory and they're not that intense so I Just don't get it Anyway, and that is one of my gripes with the film especially because it's the 80s You know, what's really holding you back if you're making a film in the United States in the early 80s Put all the gore in have good practical effects. Whatever. I mean budget probably put the kibosh on that but So Michael Miller was the director of this film now He had done films such as Street Girls Jackson County Jail, which was a Roger Corman film Silent Rage and class reunion and he shot the initial sequence of the film But then he was let go because they thought that his production speed was too slow For the making of the film so he was thrown out and then that's when the newer director William Asher was brought in so You know the parents are in this film are done for as soon as Billy as a child is like screaming the way He is in Aunt Cheryl's arms like reaching for his parents as they get into the car Or who you think is his parents actually the one is this his father as we find out but the other one is his actual aunt and Aunt Cheryl is his mother and obviously she keeps that hidden for most of the time But you know it's coming like you know they're gonna die when they get in the car And he's screaming the way he is and it's it's an interesting setup because it does really trick you into feeling like it is His both his parents because why else would the two of them be getting in the car together? well later on obviously you find out it's because He was leaving Aunt Cheryl to be with her sister and That's why so it all made sense. So I do like that set up though Now the as soon as you find out that the car crash is actually going to happen because the brakes seem to not be working As soon as that happened I immediately suspected that Aunt Cheryl had tampered with those because any time in a film whenever you see that someone's having break issues It's never natural. It's it's pretty much always someone tampered with it. And who else have we seen in the film? Wouldn't be the kid had to be Aunt Cheryl. So yeah, and that is basically what they allude to happening now Excuse me now the actual crash is a great scene in my opinion Not only is it long and very unflinching actually and very kind of horrific in a way, but that whole like the log The the tree trunk that goes through this the windshield and then like hits the guy in the head and his head snaps back obviously if you look closely you can see how fake it is but It looks great especially with how fast it goes I love that and maybe that's why I made it on to the video nasties list because that is pretty graphic looking and it is Intense and it is disturbing to a degree But then they go even further with the crash and it's it just keeps going with it until the explosion happens And it was a good it's one of the better crash scenes I've seen in a film honestly and especially when you consider this from 81 pretty good It becomes obvious that Cheryl is trying to keep Billy close when she's saying that she's Refusing college basically and refusing to find her own partner because obviously all she wants to do is spend time with Billy spend time with Billy some spend time with Billy and keep him close now It seems a little bit like the way she interacts with him is inappropriate like it seems like there's this kind of Subtextual like at a pole thing going on. I don't know if you know like Greek mythology of edifice who wanted to have sex with his mother There's a little bit of that that seems to be there, but but the there's also the aspect of The the subtextual portion about Billy actually being gay, which I'll talk about in a little bit, but Yeah, like you really see how Aunt Cheryl is really trying to kind of you know Put her arms around Billy and pull him in from the rest of the world and keep him insulated Which you know you you understand even more and more and more when she's talking to the pictures of the guy that you at that Point don't know who he is and then you see she's actually talking to a dead body And then while skeleton at that point and things just go crazier and crazier you realize Oh, you know not only is she trying to keep him close, but she doesn't want anyone To have anything to do with him really and she'll probably just end up killing him to keep him from leaving Because obviously that's what happened in the past with someone else The scene of the stabbing and how Cheryl's almost kind of like drunk or like high after the stabbing of Brody Like that's crazy and that that rolls into how great a job Susan Tyrell did in my opinion Like she finishes stabbing him and then that's when Billy comes in is like oh my god What's going on and like when she gets up from his body like the look on her face. She's like It's like she was almost euphoric after that kill you get that idea that like she needs it she needs to kill It's something So detective detective Carlson is awfully confrontational immediately Which is actually very unhelpful with solving cases in general detective Carlson is a terrible terrible human being Not only is he immediately just confrontational with anyone who is potentially a witness, which is definitely not the way you should do things he immediately just Has this proclivity to not look at evidence not even seek evidence But instead go with his very first inclination about Whatever it is and that ends up being you know that he thinks that it has something to do with a gay love triangle with Billy Brody and Landers the the gym coach and he just won't stop like once he gets this idea that there's no evidence for really He won't stop. He just stays on that track now You see the other police kind of want to get off of that and they even offer counter evidence to that saying well You know this doesn't really seem to be the case because blah blah blah, but he just doesn't listen like that guy's one track He's on it. He's not getting away from it and he's just a terrible person So you really do find yourself rooting for Billy and definitely rooting against detective Carlson And in the end really the way that Carlson does things It leads him to his own death in essence because he takes it to a point where Billy has no choice But to kill him when he wouldn't have done he wouldn't have done that, but I'll talk about more about that at the end So Carlson thinks that Landers is involved in the death of Brody because of the ring that he gave him now at this point they actually do paint Landers in a bit of a Sympathetic light, but you do also have to look at it and say that it's insinuated that Landers was having a relationship with Brody It was also somewhat insinuated that maybe he was having a relationship with Billy We don't know for sure, but he it more of a strong indicator. He was doing that with Brody now There's no problem with being gay obviously but There is this Relationship of the gym teacher with a student and that's the problem So even though they they make Landers a very nice person they paint him in a bit of a sympathetic light He's still doing something very wrong like that is definitely still rape even if it's consensual Because of the age difference. So just saying Carl's hate or Carl's Carlson's hatred of people who are gay guides his entire investigation And that just shows you kind of how blind hatred can make a person and screw everything up and keep you on One track that blinds you to everything else around you. It's just ridiculous Notice that Billy only shows any sexual interest in Julie when she brings up Carlson's belief that he might be gay That's probably the strongest indicator in this film that Billy actually is gay Although that might not be the case for sure though because like I said There was this kind of subtextual like maybe edible thing I mean maybe not a hundred percent on his side, but definitely on Aunt Cheryl's side Especially because in the very end when she's dying She even kisses him on the mouth and it looks like it was kind of like a sexual kind of kiss on the mouth as she She's dying. She's like a little let me get this in because I wasn't able to You know during the course of the rest of the course of the film and also when she confronts Billy about Being in bed with Julie not only is she super upset about it in a jealousy type way But she insists upon yelling at Billy while he's naked in the bathroom Just saying I think it's cuz she wanted to look Cheryl was not Sorry Cheryl is next level messed up when she drugs Billy to make him blow his scholarship opportunity with the basketball game That's nuts and the other thing too is notice how when she's in the stands watching like she's watching with Anticipation of like when are these drugs gonna kick in and then once they do she's very delayed in Actually responding and going to a side and acting like she's concerned about him and It would make you think that people around her would kind of notice that because she's in a big crowd of people and Everyone else was very concerned, but she's just kind of like Pretty pretty tardy to the party on that one Uh-oh Chuck Strang disappeared makes you think that's where things would be headed for Billy Especially because of her talk with Chuck's picture saying that she would keep him like she kept Chuck That's just a little inkling that gets thrown in there on the earlier side to indicate How how far things are going down like down a spiral and how things are only getting worse for the outlook for Billy and obviously things just get the worst possible pretty much except for him dying, but it gets close What's the saying about skeletons in your closet? Aunt Cheryl literally has one or actually just behind a wall that she boarded up But same thing she had skeleton she had a skeleton in her in her closet in her house That is a great reveal I really really love the reveal of the the dead body there because for them for most of the time when She's in that room talking with the candles lit in the pictures You think she's just talking to the pictures and maybe this is someone who she had a relationship with they broke up and he's living somewhere else or Maybe it's someone that she did off, but then it's that next level when you see that That the body the the skeletonized body is actually in that room and she's not just talking to the picture She's talking to the body like that takes her psychosis to The umpteenth level and I think it's great for the film The mother reveal is pretty solid when she actually reveals that she was a mother and that who she said were Billy's parents were actually his aunt and his actual father. That was interesting as well The milk scene at the end is disturbing and kind of scary because of where you know It's headed and how Tyrell's performance is the milk seem meaning the the part where Billy's already not feeling well He's laying in bed and she's like got his head and she's just like jumping milk into his mouth Like it is Disturbing because you know what's in that milk because you know what she's tried to do before Because you know at that point that she has the intention Potentially of just ending his life because she doesn't want him to leave and she's already come to the realization that he's pretty Resolved to go somewhere whether it be go to college or whatever. So it's messed up Nice revealed reveal of the preserved head That's that next level. I it was the next level when you were revealed the skeleton Then it's the next next level when you revealed that there is a jar with the preserved head in it. I Like that It completes the slow progression of showing the extent of Cheryl's madness and that's one of the great things about the writing along with the acting which is It works because the pacing is good and with that pacing It's just this very slow descent very very very slow descent for Aunt Cheryl. It really is Very well pulled off. The pacing is great with that. I quite enjoy it The thunder and lightning while Cheryl's honor kind of killing spree at the end is over the top though I you know, I understand this 1981 so a lot of people were just doing that It was totally accepted but for watching it nowadays It's a little bit rough to watch that because you're just like it's so over the top But still her killing spree was fun. It was a good time and it feels crazy like everything feels like very off off the rails at that point You can see how tough it is for Billy when he has to kill Aunt Cheryl He has to kill her for his own good But he's also crying if you notice because he he doesn't want her to die Like that's still not only is that still the mother the person who mothered him while he was growing up But he literally just found out that that's his actual biological mother in addition to that So he's mourning while he's also having to defend his own life against this person who's supposed to be his caregiver But ends up being his butcher baker nightmare maker. Just saying Carlson is the worst detective ever He works off assumptions only as is seen in the very ending where he just walks in that a terrible time Especially because Landers is there and he's like yes I knew it Landers and Billy were together and they then now they killed his mother which You know, I don't I don't know if he had like an actual reasoning for that He was just like I think I was right now. I'm gonna try and kill these people. Well, I mean he forced them Forced Billy to kill him basically Crazy man. Oh and also notice that that time when it shows like how off the rails Carlson is in general the time where he brings the one guy in who was speaking Spanish To the station and makes him sit on the floor and then like pulses Piss his gun out doesn't say pistols a revolver pulls his gun out and like cocks it and is putting it near his face Like that's insane He's he's crazy Notice that at no point in the film is Billy allowed to be himself He's bullied by Eddie. He's bullied by Aunt Cheryl. He's bullied by Carlson So he has all these terrible Bullying forces coming at him no matter where he is he can't get away from that He can't get away from people trying to force things on him or force him to be things Now I said there's this kind of subtext of maybe Billy is gay But maybe Billy isn't actually gay and it's just a projection that you're getting from people like Eddie at school Who keep using the the derogatory gay f-word at him? Just saying like that could be it and in that case that's being projected on to him then Especially because he's then spending time with Landers and then everyone's like oh Landers is gay So obviously Billy spent time with him He's got to be gay and then he goes home and he's being forced to be someone by Cheryl all this stuff's being put on him like no, you're not gonna go to college No, you're not gonna be yourself. You're just gonna be here and be with me You know, she's even put him in a different familial role as that's her son, but she puts him in the role of Nephew, I mean, that's the ultimate of like really forcing something on you It's crazy. So just something I thought was interesting The whole time Cheryl has a quasi flirtatious way of interacting with Billy. It is very unsettling I know I already talked about that. That's a whole kind of edible-ish thing Note how Cheryl's appearance gradually gets more and more wild and Disheveled as she slowly comes undone within the film Also when she's lost it her posture changes because she goes from carrying herself in a normal way posture wise to Having her head kind of down like this and her chin pointed down and she looks like up at people which is not only Disturbing but it's also kind of more of like a passive-aggressive type thing But it shows you that that posture and change shows you that she's basically become a different person And if you look at her in the very beginning of the film and how she starts out with her posture all up and how Cheery and happy and nice and unassuming she is then compare her to how she ends up in the end You know her hair is cut she looks all wild She looks disheveled even her clothes look disheveled her postures totally changed She looks all hunched over and kind of evil, you know She's more like that's kind of like an old Crohn's posture So I just thought that was interesting because that goes along very very well with how the writing is and how the acting is With that slowly paced progression of her descent. So I love it for that reason It's a big deal that Billy is a sympathetic character if he is gay If you lead read into it that you think subtext says he is gay During this time all gay characters were either villains or basically just overstated comedic stereotypes So the fact that they have some sort of sympathetic Potentially gay character in it was a big time was a big thing for that time And the other thing is that you know Carlson who's so hell bent on vilifying Making villains or anyone who's gay in this film He's looked at as a bad guy He's he's painted in a very negative light and that's not how it really was back then unfortunately in film So kind of progressive for its its time Yeah, and unfortunately the gore is not so hot in this very very unfortunately, so I do like this film I think it's a good time. Is this the best film ever? No I thought going into it that it would end up being like a so bad. It's good type film, but no It's like good good. I quite enjoyed it, but I can't give it too high marks because honestly the film is made off of Susan Tyrell's performance like it really really really is the character of Billy's well-written But it the acting is just okay in my opinion actually the acting in general is just okay other than Tyrell But yeah, and they need a more gore. They need more good violence all that jazz So overall five stars possible with half stars in play This is a tough one I'm gonna give it three and a half stars I was between three and a half and four though So if I was doing quarters, I'd do three point seven five But I think it feels better at three and a half, but know that I consider to four so Good film. I like it. I'd love to hear what other people have to say about it Put some comments down here Oh and in the case that Joe Bob Briggs ends up covering this on the last drive-in because Uncle Pete subscriber Uncle Pete has said he has a feeling that he's gonna cover this In the case that that does happen. Just know that I watched it and recorded this video before that happened I'm recording this only after the first First episode of season three of the last drive-in. So just saying not like it matters that much But anyway, just wondering on the record anyway, put your comments down there Let's talk about this. Do me a favor of subscribing if you have not already subscribed Because that is what keeps me motivated every time I see someone subscribe It really does give me a bit of a boost to keep doing these things and putting, you know, my creativity out there and It just lets me know that people actually appreciate it. So I appreciate that Also hit the notification bell button because that way you'll know whenever I'm putting up new videos Whether it's a review like this or an unboxing or haul video or any of that stuff But regardless, I do appreciate your yeah, sorry I do appreciate your you taking your time to watch this and until next time keep it brutal